The government has permitted 428 business people and firms to import 1,720,000 tons of rice at a lower duty rate, aiming to keep the rice market stable in Bangladesh.
The Food Ministry gave the permission from August 17 to 30 and informed the Commerce Ministry about it, said an official.
On Monday, another 79 business firms got permission to import 101,000 tons of boiled and atap (non-boiled) rice. With this, the Food Ministry has permitted a total of 428 firms to import some 1,720,000 tons of rice.
However, the importers will have to market the imported rice by September 25 next.
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The other conditions imposed by the ministry include ensuring a maximum of 5% broken grains among the imported rice, opening LC (Letter of Credit) within 15 days and informing the Food Ministry about the LC-related information through emails instantly.
Besides, the imported rice cannot be repackaged using the name of importers and the rice will have to be sold in plastic sacks.
The ministry says: “If anyone fails to open LC in the stipulated time, the permission will be cancelled.”
On August 12, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a gazette notification slashing the import tariff on rice to 25% from 62.5% in order to keep the rice prices stable in the local market. The facility of lower import duty will remain effective till October 30 next.
The imported rice has already started entering Bangladesh through land ports, the official added.